50 



LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, i 



The Rookery, Lynton, Sept. 19, 1882. 



My dear Donnelly — Your letter seems to have arrived her 

 the very day I left for Whitby, whither I had to betake mysel 

 to inspect a weir, so I did not get it until my return last nighi 



I am extremely sorry to hear of the possibility of Martin' 

 giving up his post. He took so much interest in the work an< 

 was so very pleasant to deal with, that I do not think we shal 

 easily find any one to replace him. 



If you will find another R.E. at all like him, in Heaven' 

 name catch him and put him in, job or no job. 



The objection to a small clerk is that we want somebod; 

 who knows how to deal with men, and especially young men 01 

 the one hand, and especially cantankerous (more or less) oli 

 scientific buffers on the other. 



The objection to a man of science is that (1) we want a mai 

 of business and not a m.s., and (2) that no man scientificall; 

 worth having that I know of is likely to take such an office. 



" As at present advised " I am all for an R.E., so I canno 

 have the pleasure even of trying to convert you. 



With our united kindest regards — Ever yours very faith 

 fully, T. H. Huxley. 



I return next Monday. 



Two letters of thanks follow, one at the beginning of th 

 year to Mr. Herbert Spencer for the gift of a very fim 

 photograph of himself ; the other, at the end of the year, t( 

 Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Skelton, for his book on Mar 

 Queen of Scots and the Casket Letters. 



As to the former, it must be premised that Mr. Spence 

 abhorred exaggeration and inexact talk, and would ruth 

 lessly prick the airy bubbles which endued the conversatioi 

 of the daughters of the house with more buoyancy thai 

 strict logic, a gift which, he averred, was denied to woman 



4 Marlborough Place, Jan. 25, 1882. 

 My dear Spencer — Best thanks for the photograph. It i 

 very good, though there is just a touch of severity in the eye 

 We shall hang it up in the dining-room, and if anybody is guilt; 

 of exaggerated expressions or bad logic (five womenkind habit 

 ually sit round that table), I trust they will feel that that ey 

 is upon them. — Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. Huxley. 



